Residents around Midland Memorial Hospital say it's become a
problem people parking in front of their homes. They say they are
tired of it, but soon, things may change for the better. Residents
tell me it's been a long frustrating road.

Some employees are forced to park in front of the homes and
businesses. They hope the new parking garage will help. Ed Cagel
lives across the street from the hospital; he says he's battled
people parking in front of his driveway since construction
began.

"I sympathize with them, but they should have built a garage
first," he said. "People don't care, they're going to park where
it's convenient."

To smooth things over, Cory Edmondson the Vice President of
Support Services says come February first the parking garage will
be complete.

"Parking has always been a big issue on our campus." he
said.

With 780 new parking spots the hospital will no longer need to
barrow the First Baptists Church parking lot. Employees say
this will also help, because if they don't take the shuttle from
the church parking lot, they will have to walk from a nearby
neighborhood.

One day Bruce Becker would like to see more bikes than cars
parked at his green-oriented 360 State Street apartment tower. One
day, he hopes, he even might turn the north side of the fifth level
of his new garage into a tennis court.

Meanwhile, he's opening a new garage with high-tech extras aimed
at saving energy and encouraging drivers to pedal their way or take
the train to work.

For now,few people even know about the garage has opened to the
public. Few know about its nifty features, like digital signage
telling you how many spaces are open and on which of the five
levels.

On Wednesday Becker plans to correct that when the garage
"officially" opens to the public. By way of promotions, the 500-car
garage will be absolutely free to all parkers in the last week of
January.

The new 500-apartment 360 State complex is the current poster
building in Connecticut for transit-oriented development, the idea
of building compact, mixed-use projects near trains and buses. But
some people still drive and need to park their cars; hence the
garage. In the interest of promoting alternatives to driving,
Becker is offering a full month's free parking at his new garage
for possessors of a monthly Metro North commuter ticket .

You also get a month free if you sign up for the Elm City
Market, the food co-op scheduled to open on the tower's ground
floor this summer.

After that, you pay $159 a month - not for a designated
spot but any slot that's free; or you can use the garage on a daily
basis.

Plastic For Parking Only, Please

Oh, and it's credit card only for every transaction. During a
Becker-guided tour of the relatively empty green garage Friday,
Paul Corriveau pulled up to one of the check-out kiosks.

Corriveau (pictured) got out of his scarlet colored
Toyota, read the digital message, and declared, "I don't have a
credit card. How the hell do I get out of this place!"

Becker introduced himself . Because the young West Havener was
having an exceptionally bad day, having spent four hours at court
filing for Chapter Seven bankruptcy, 360 State Street's top guy
gave him a free voucher to insert into the slot instead of a
card.

According to Bob Fleece of LAZ Parking, which manages the
garage, there are only perhaps two incidents a week like
Corriveau's, in which case an attendant, reachable through the
intercom, comes to the rescue and takes cash.

With only two such instances a week, does it make sense to have
a salaried person in a booth accepting stealable bills? Becker
asked rhetorically.

Becker was asked whether, even with all the "green" amenities
and efforts to steer people to public transit, adding so many new
parking spaces to downtown in fact promotes more car travel. His
response:Ultimately he'd like to see all the residents being
without a car, and the garage used by daily transient parkers as
ended. Meanwhile, the complex wouldn't be able o bring in a
(needed) downtown grocery without parking attached.

Becker said that ultimately the garage's priorities serve two
groups: Monthly parkers and those who will be shopping at the
soon-to-arrive Elm City Market.

Monthly parkers get an electronically read decal on their
windshield which automatically opens the gate. "It's similar to EZ
Pass," Becker said.

Elm City Market users will have free parking and validation.
Whether you have to be buy a certain amount at the market and
whether there will be a time limit, those details are to be worked
out, Becker said.

The double-sized elevator at the western end of the garage
(in the back of this photo) will rise directly up from the
street-level market and should hold two shopping carts and about a
dozen people, Becker estimated.

TOD Working?

Thus far with 180 leases signed at 360 State, Fleece reported to
Becker that 145 residents have signed up as monthly parkers. (For
them it's $100 a month; it's $159 for outsiders.)

Since 15 of the 145 are two-car families ,that means the
building has already attracted 50 people without vehicles.

"Fifty people living downtown who determine to have no car,"
Becker said, with evident pleasure.

In addition to a bicycle storage room, which appropriately is
behind Devil's Gear Bike Shop on the Pitkin Plaza side of 360
State, the complex's ground level has room for 100 bikes. An
outside corridor extending off it has room for 100 more. This space
also houses a pedicab or two, which ultimately will be delivering
groceries for the market, Becker suggested.

There are two Zipcars in residence as well.

For those who do the deed of driving, Becker said he is proud of
the garage's features, including the neon lights on the perimeter
of each level. They automatically go off through a sensoring and
motion system that saves 60 to 75 percent of what would be spent
for electric energy.

That and all the other systems get their juice through the
building's pioneering fuel cell, which will also provide free
electrical charges at up to six charging stations, yet to be
installed.

"There's a lot of technology here," Becker declared.

Signs Save Gas

He pointed to the digital display telling you how many spots are
available on each level. The number of slots available is also
readable on displays on the ramps ascending the levels.

So that if level four is filled, no need to go exploring; you
stay on the ramp to the next level where there's a spot.

"Think of all the gas we'll save," Becker said.

He argued that an additional value of that feature is if you're
rushing to make a train at the State Street train station, those
minutes you save might make all the difference.

After he gave Paul Corriveau his free voucher (Corricvau had
parked at 360 State previously with a credit card, and termed it
excellent), Becker also took in the new traffic signal on State
Street and the median cut below.

The additional light on State between Court and Chapel now
allows a left turn going north on State into the garage.

"That's a million dollars," he said. The investment includes a
video sensing device that tells the left turn arrow to go on if it
sees a car approach.

Think of the hundreds of people who will now not have to drive
an extra half mile around to come down State and access the garage
from the north, Becker said.

More gas saved.

Metro-North increased the number trains starting out toward
Grand Central from the little station across State Street from the
complex to two an hour during rush hour, in part due to a campaign
waged by Becker. However, the printed schedule has not caught up
with that available online.

He thinks word about that needs to get out better for his garage
to do what it's intended for.

"It's better for merchants" if while waiting for the train,
people park and then they can buy coffee and a paper [in the 360
State Street neighborhood]," he said. "There's not much down by
[Union] station."

"Every time I go to a Town Green Special Service District
meeting, I hear there is no parking in New Haven," Becker said.
"And, look, this garage is mostly empty."

When word does get out, will other customers push out the
priority parkers, the shoppers and monthlies?

"While anyone who wants to park here can, if we're overwhelmed,
we'll adjust our rate structure. We may raise the rate $5, and
there will be fewer [daily] parkers. Market will drive demand,"
Becker said.

As to tennis with a view, it just happens that the dimensions of
the fifth level of the parking garage on the north are 120 feet by
60 feet, that of a tennis court, Becker said.

The Columbia City Council will vote on the possibility of
doubling city parking meter fines at Tuesday's meeting.

Currently, the fine is five dollars. A vote at Tuesday night's
city council will determine if the fine will double to ten dollars,
or not. This would be the first time the fine will have changed in
eight years. View Video News Story

On any given day, between 11,000 and 12,000 people are seeking
parking spaces on the campus of Middle Tennessee State
University

The challenge is to stay ahead of the need.

"We have between 12,000 and 13,000 parking spaces. Even at peak
times, we have somewhere between 700 and 800 (open) spaces," said
Ron Malone, assistant vice president for events and transportation.
"But they may not be where everybody would like to have them."

The key, he said, is to make it easy for individuals to park a
car and take a shuttle to get them where they want to go on campus
in a timely manner.

Phase three of MTSU's parking and transportation plan should be
completed by Aug. 15, adding more shuttle bus lanes on campus as
well as a new roundabout.

MTSU officials are to meet Wednesday with Rock City Construction
Co. of Nashville to set a starting date for the work. Money for the
$4.9 million project will come from the program services fee that
students pay.

Shuttles in use

The university has 12 shuttle buses and, except for the
beginning of each semester, uses 10 of them on various routes on
campus.

"As we improve the availability and timeliness of shuttles, more
can feel better about parking in outlying areas," he said.

The overall master plan is to move MTSU toward a more
pedestrian-friendly campus.

Malone's hope is that as students, faculty and visitors arrive
on campus, the last thing they have to concern themselves with is
finding a parking place.

"I think we are definitely heading in that direction," Malone
said. "We are not there yet, but we are getting there."

Norwalk Hospital is scheduled to begin construction this month
to replace a 35-year-old parking garage with a structure that will
have nearly 200 new spaces for patients and visitors.

The $22 million garage will have full decks on each level
compared with the half-deck structure of the current facility,
allowing an increase from 430 spaces to 628 spaces on the same
footprint, Norwalk Hospital director of facilities Jim Haynes
said.

The project will also improve pedestrian safety into and out of
the garage, with the new elevator emptying into the lobby of the
hospital instead of across from the front entrance, which is
heavily used by cars entering the garage, Haynes said.

"You won't need to walk where the cars drive into the garage,"
Haynes said. "They will come up into the main lobby and won't have
to walk in the driving lanes."

The replacement of the old garage, which was built in 1974, will
provide elevator access on each level and improve access to a
proposed Ambulatory Pavilion to house the hospital's outpatient
treatment facilities, according to Jeryl Topalian, executive
director of planning and business services.

The hospital has applied for a required Certificate of Need from
the state health department to build the pavilion, Topalian
said.

"There has been an increase in volume as we've added more
services over the course of the years and we anticipate needing to
be able to accommodate that on our site," Topalian said.

During the 14-month construction period, patients and visitors
to the hospital will be directed by signs to the Maple Street
walk-up entrance where valet and self-parking entrances to a
surface lot will be available, Haynes said.

Physicians and other hospital employees have been relocated to a
nearby parking lot and will be brought to the hospital by shuttle
bus, Haynes said.

A popular commuter lot in Prince William County is about to lose
most of its parking spaces, county officials said Thursday.

Potomac Mills mall General Manager Mike Sullivan said the
Woodbridge outlet store shopping center will reduce the number of
commuter spaces from about 1,000 to 275 on Feb. 14. Sullivan said
the reduction is needed to make way for commercial development.

"We had a business decision to make," Sullivan said. "This is
private property; we run a business, and we want to have enough
parking for customers and employees. We've helped the county out
over the years . . . but it's the county's job to provide commuter
lots."

Sullivan said the county requires Potomac Mills to provide 275
spaces. For more than 20 years, however, mall officials have
provided four to five times what the county required. Sullivan said
they did so to give the county time to build lots.

"I don't understand their reasoning," said Woodbridge resident
Shenell Shepard, who uses the lot daily to "slug," or join
impromptu carpools, or ride the bus north for work. "Many days I am
here, I go into the mall, so I would think having the lot brings
them business. And it's a good community service."

Like Shepard, other commuters were shocked to hear the news
Thursday night. Commuters said that the commuter parking area at
the mall is full by 7:30 a.m and that many of the surrounding
commuter lots are also bursting at the seams. The rest of the
mall's 7,900-space parking lot, they say, is not full many days
during the week.

"They already cut the commuting spaces once," Shepard said. "I
don't know what I am going to do. I wonder if some people may
gravitate to the Virginia Railway Express."

According to the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation
Commission Web site, there are 15 commuter lots across the
county.

"This is just another reason why the residents need transit
options, not just wider roads but the extension of Metro, bus rapid
transit and more capacity on VRE," Prince William Supervisor Frank
J. Principi (D-Woodbridge). "We certainly welcome the economic
development, but at the same time . . . it's a bad situation for
commuters and slugs."

Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R-At
Large) said about two-thirds of the county's workforce leaves
Prince William for work. The county is looking for other places for
commuters to park in the short term. Long term, he said, the county
wants to expand the Horner Road lot by 800 spaces. Stewart said the
county has been trying, so far unsuccessfully, to secure about $5
million from the state for the expansion.

"I don't blame them for taking their spots back, because they
are a business, but at the same time, there are not enough places
to park," said Dale City resident Marc Massman, who commutes to
Arlington County for work. "The county government is responsible
for finding more parking. . . . They charge us a bunch for taxes;
give us something in return."

Sullivan said the business expansion plans surfaced a few years
ago but were halted when the recession hit. Now, he said,
businesses want to expand again and he needs to guarantee there is
enough parking for new and existing businesses.

"While we realize the impact that this change will have on
commuters, as a private business, our first priority must be to
provide for the needs of our loyal shoppers, retailers and
employees," Sullivan said in a letter sent to The Washington Post.
"We must also accommodate continued growth . . . and these
additions will require assurances that we can provide ample parking
for their customers and employees."

Sullivan said he could not release the names of potential new
businesses because of negotiations with various retailers and
restaurants, some of which are interested in building facilities in
the parking lot.

"I can see their perspective," said Prince William resident Jim
Bean, who commutes from the Potomac Mills lot. "Parked cars don't
bring in revenue. I guess I'll have to get here even earlier or
start driving."

Several visitors to downtown Detroit events Saturday were met
with a surprise when they returned to their cars: parking tickets.
Among them was Tabatha Johnson.

"We got a ticket? For what?" she said. "Downtown shouldn't do
that. They're making enough money."

Johnson, 35, of Detroit parked on Fort Street alongside the
Penobscot Building. Johnson's car and more than a dozen other
vehicles near the building got slapped with $30 parking tickets.
The city typically does not write parking tickets on weekends,
though parking meters indicate there is enforcement from Monday
through Saturday.

Mayoral spokeswoman Karen Dumas cited a mix-up, because city
officials had decided that parking enforcement, aside from fire
lanes and handicapped spots, would be relaxed on Saturday, the
first public day of the North American International Auto Show.

After a call from the Free Press, Dumas said parking enforcement
was suspended for the day.

"We don't normally write tickets on the weekends, and it's not
in our best interest to do so when we have thousands of visitors"
in the city, she said.

No one who has tried to cross an area bridge over the Schuylkill
River lately needs to be told that with the Keim Street bridge out
of commission and the Route 100 bridge constricted to one lane,
that it's getting kind of hard to get around at rush hour.

Local officials have been tinkering with changes to
intersections and the timing of lights to try to allow traffic to
move as smoothly as possible.

However, a move to further restrict parking along South Hanover
Street during the evening rush hour was itself delayed Monday after
several business owners and customers came out to object to the
idea.

The idea under consideration is to change the parking ordinance
and prohibit parking along the east side of South Hanover Street
from the railroad tracks up to High Street from 4 p.m. to 9 a.m.
weekdays.

The idea is that restriction would go into effect after the
businesses along that strip of street are closed and it would add
an additional travel and turning lane during the evening rush
hour.

"Traffic in town is already a nightmare," said Borough Council
Vice President Mark Gibson. "I was stuck on Route 422 the other day
at the Hanover Street exit and it was backed up all the way to the
off-ramp."

When PennDOT closes the High Street bridge over Manatawny Creek
later this year for reconstruction, things are only going to get
worse, Gibson said.

"Things are going to get worse before they get better," he said
during Jan. 5 council work session.

However, three business owners along that strip of road said
further restricting parking there would make things worse for them
and their businesses.

"The 15-minute parking there is enough of a strain as it is.
It's the biggest complaint my customers have," said Nancy Leaming,
owner of The Natural Cat pet products store at 6 South Hanover
St.

"Some of them are carrying 30- and 40-pound bags to their cars.
If they can't park in front of my store, they will have to park on
High Street or elsewhere," Leaming said.

"And 4 to 6 p.m. is my busiest time because my customers work
for a living. If that parking is removed, it may really be the end
of my business," Leaming said.

One of her customers, Alyssa Braunsberg, agreed.

"I shop between 5 and 6 p.m. and taking the parking away will
make it very difficult," Braunsberg said. "I don't want to see
Nancy gone. I rely on her for a lot of things."

"A no parking sign would drastically affect my business," said
Burke, who noted after 4 p.m. is frequently when his customers are
coming to pick up their vehicles.

Having a parking restriction "would be more than enough excuse
for them to go elsewhere," said Burke.

The problem, Burke said, is that there are two lanes of travel
from the Hanover Street Bridge to the railroad tracks, which then
merges into one, and then the parking area becomes a right-turn
lane.

People often use that northbound right lane "as an acceleration
lane to cut back into the center," said Bob Leaming, who owns 200
E. High St. on the corner with South Hanover Street.

"It's not very nice, but that's the way it is," he said.

Both he and burke said the problem is with the traffic light at
High and Hanover, which does not allow enough time for northbound
traffic to get across High Street.

Leaming said he conducted an "informal" traffic study - "don't
worry, I won't charge you $10,000 or anything" - and found that
about 20 get through the light; "about 12 of them go straight;
about seven go left and only one per light make the right."

Therefore, opening up right lane traffic by restricting parking
would do little to alleviate congestion because few of those
vehicles are making right turns anyway.

Council agreed to table the idea until it gets more
information.

Borough Manager Jason Bobst said he and local officials will
meet with PennDOT officials shortly and he will suggest looking
into getting traffic counts, "since there seems to be some
resistance from the business owners and the impact on traffic might
not be that great."

York Official Reports Some
Complaints About Sat. Meter EnforcementYork Daily Record
January 15, 2011

York City Councilman Henry Nixon said he's heard complaints
about the new Saturday parking meter enforcement in downtown York,
but he still supports the policy.

As residents and merchants prepared for the new hours -- which
began from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday -- Nixon said he fielded
concerns from people at Central Market. But free parking is
available across the street, he said.

"You pay for parking in the city," Nixon said. "You pay for
parking in all cities. I have very little patience for all the
complaining about parking."

Parking Rates Going Up in 9
Seattle AreasMike Lindblom / The Seattle Times
January 14, 2011

By the end of March, drivers in Seattle will pay new rates of up
to $4 an hour for on-street parking spots.

And several neighborhoods will have meter fees until 8 p.m.
Monday through Saturday, two hours later than they do now.

The changes are part of the city's strategy to keep turnover in
its 13,500 paid curbside spaces high and have one or two empty
spots in every block, finding that "sweet spot in parking
occupancy," according to city traffic-management Director Charles
Bookman. That might reduce congestion and promote retail business,
if travelers waste less time and gasoline cruising the streets
looking for parking.

It also will bring in an extra $8 million this year, the city
predicts.

Transportation managers divided the city into 22 neighborhood
zones, and will boost rates in nine, keep them the same in nine and
cut them in four.

The top rate will apply to First Hill, downtown and Pioneer
Square. The lowest rate is $1 between Seattle Center and Highway
99. Pay-to-park times will be extended to 8 p.m. in eight areas,
including Pioneer Square, Capitol Hill, Belltown and the University
District. Parking will remain free on Sundays.

Several cities are experimenting with so-called market-based
pricing, among them New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and soon
Portland. Vancouver, B.C., is dabbling in nighttime meter fees.

Besides encouraging turnover, Seattle has the potential to make
more money, of course, especially downtown, where Mayor Mike McGinn
has guessed people would be willing to pay as much as $6 to $7 an
hour, comparable to private garages.

The City Council's budget set a $4-per-hour limit for 2011, but
the city nonetheless predicts it will collect $35 million from
parking fees this year. Last year, it collected about $27 million
with short-term rates of $1.50, $2 or $2.50 per hour.

Future tweaks might include fees that vary by time of day, or
seasonal rates. Belltown, with its nightlife, might be busier after
dark, while the Ballard Locks area fills with visitors in summer,
for instance.

"Over the next several years, we will find out what works by
doing detailed studies of parking occupancy," Bookman said.

The city government has relied on ever-increasing money from
parking fees, taxes and a half-million citations a year. Last year,
parking raised a total of $70 million, preventing cuts to the $313
million transportation budget.

First Hill cost doubling

The steepest increase is on First Hill, where city studies in
mid-November found curbside spaces completely full. The city is
raising the $2 hourly rate to $4.

"I wouldn't pay $4 for an hour. I don't ever need to come here,"
said Mike Sumi, who parked there for lunch with his girlfriend
Friday afternoon before his shift in a South End restaurant. He
questions the notion that higher prices will make more space
available.

"It's two hours max, so you have to come and go quickly already.
The people who need to be up here will pay for it. The people who
don't, won't."

Patti Gorman said she remembers free parking in most places when
she first moved to Seattle in 1974.

"It's just a way to raise revenue," she said, having parked on
First Hill to use the bank, then give at the blood bank. "I think
people should be able to get around the city and use the city.
Making parking expensive is just a burden."

Prices also are rising to $2 in the Cherry Hill area just east
of Seattle University. At the $1.50 rate, some people already park
on the quiet side streets, which have a two-hour limit for
nonresidents. The paid spaces tend to fill in the morning but open
up in the afternoon, said Lennie Sanders, who drives there three
times a week for physical therapy at Swedish Medical Center. A
price boost wouldn't change his behavior. "The time I come here is
time I have to spend," he said.

Parking rates were chosen based on peak-time patterns, said
Bookman. If spaces are more than 78 percent filled, the price ought
to go up. If they are less than 58 percent filled, prices should
decline, a city report recommends.

But one revelation was how in downtown and First Hill, spaces
filled quickly and stayed that way all day, Bookman said.

Peak time all the time

The Downtown Seattle Association praised the market-rate
philosophy, but criticized the use of peak-time data.

"That would be like pricing tickets for regular-season Seahawks
games based on the ticket price charged in the Super Bowl," said
Jon Scholes, vice president for advocacy and economic
development.

Bookman replied, "If we don't manage to the peak period, we will
not achieve our policy objective of one to two spaces open on
average, for the most critical part of the day."

There are no plans to extend paid parking into other busy
neighborhoods, such as the West Seattle Junction or upper Queen
Anne Hill.

A city report also acknowledges a major weakness: In some
places, 40 percent of parking is unpaid. These include government
cars, as well as those with disability placards or license
plates.

Scholes suggests limiting disabled parking to four hours, and
cracking down on fraud.

"SDOT (Seattle Department of Transportation) knows they're being
abused," he said. "You can free up space, and raise revenue,
without raising rates," he said.

Residents often threaten to take their shopping dollars to
suburbs such as Bellevue, where Bellevue Square Mall developer
Kemper Freeman Jr. has always provided free private parking.

"A lot of people tease me for this issue, that it must be reason
to celebrate," Freeman said. But only 2 to 5 percent of his
clientele comes from Seattle, and he expects Seattle's higher
parking fees to have no effect on his mall.

Instead, Freeman called the increase a symptom of "myopic
vision" that makes Seattle less accessible as a retail and service
center.

Another Idea Offered in
Albany Parking FixJordan Carleo-Evangelist / The Albany Times Union
January 14, 2011

The head of the city's parking authority is continuing to prod
Albany to think bigger as it drafts its long-awaited residential
permit-parking law, and his ideas could mean state workers who long
opposed the system might not be kicked completely off the curb.

Michael Klein, the Albany Parking Authority's executive
director, ruffled feathers in October when he went so far as to
suggest that city consider allowing residents to sell their
downtown parking privileges, presumably to a eager pool of state
workers, for a profit on a secondary market.

Despite tepid support for that idea on the task force appointed
by Mayor Jerry Jennings to hash out how the downtown parking system
will work, Klein -- a task force member himself -- has nonetheless
continued to promote models that would not freeze out commuters
completely.

Klein's latest proposal involves a hybrid system that would
allow the city to issue parking permits to residents, business
owners and -- in limited numbers and for a higher price -- some
non-resident commuters.

Boulder, Colo., uses a similar system, selling non-resident
permits on a first-come-first-served basis on blocks where the
parking space vacancy rate exceeds 25 percent during the day --
meaning the spots sold to commuters are not depriving residents of
places to park but merely using excess capacity.

While the non-resident permits would sell for more than those
for residents, they could still be cheaper than the state charges
public employees for the most coveted garage and lot spaces close
to Empire State Plaza, Klein said, describing how the system might
work if the city chose to pursue it.

He stressed, however, that the permit system's primary function
should be a low-cost benefit to residents.

The revenue from the non-resident permits could be used to
improve the specific neighborhoods where the commuters park, Klein
said, adding that giving state workers a measure of buy-in might
help preserve the system in the long run.

After more than two decades of haggling, the Legislature
approved Albany's permit system last year on the condition that it
be limited to a two-year pilot, after which state lawmakers would
evaluate its success or failure.

State workers' unions sued to invalidate the city's last permit
system in 1988 and have bitterly opposed the creation of a new one
ever since on the grounds that it unfairly penalized their members
without actually solving the underlying lack of available downtown
parking.

The measure finally passed last year laden with compromises,
including that no more than 2,750 of the roughly 9,000 spaces
within three-quarters of a mile of the Empire State Plaza can be
off-limits to those without permits.

If the city wants to see it extended, Klein said, it might do
well to give state workers reason not to fight it.

"I think that's the market force that lets this survive the
two-year sunset clause," Klein said at the task force's Friday
meeting. "It will no longer be an issue if there's something in it
for everybody."

It's not clear whether Klein's idea will win the support of the
panel's other members, who include city Treasurer Kathy Sheehan and
four members of the Common Council that will ultimately have to
pass the law.

Councilmen Dominick Calsolaro and Anton Konev, both of whom
represent affected neighborhoods, said they would not be opposed to
considering the idea once the residential permit system is in place
and if studies show there are unused spaces.

The panel received two more parking surveys from the city's
Traffic Engineering Division on Friday: One conducted the during
the day and one conducted at night.

There was a 20 percent vacancy rate during the date on the 11
blocks surveyed during the day, with just a 10 percent vacancy rate
at night -- numbers that seem to confirm that the daytime permit
system will solve just half of downtown's parking dilemma and not
address the jockeying for spaces among residents that goes on at
night.

The city plans to repeat the studies in the coming weeks on a
day when the Legislature is in session, which the task force
chairman, Councilman Richard Conti, said should give a fuller
picture of the parking landscape and whether or not the hybrid
system will work.

"It's an element that we have to spend some more time
discussing," Conti said. "Part of the purpose of this license plate
survey was to get a handle who parts on the streets and at what
time of day."

Meanwhile, the panel spent much of its time Friday refining
other aspects of the proposed law -- including how to make permits
available to businesses and whether to award a finite number to
households or any resident within the designated permit zones.

The opening of Matthew Knight Arena means new parking
woes. Those who live around the complex witnessed all the
congestion Thursday night.

If you were driving around searching for a parking spot on a
non- game night, you'd have no problem. But you would have
have been hard pressed to find a spot Thursday.

"I felt like a salmon spawning upstream. I just saw lots
of headlights coming from the opposite direction. I seem to
be the only one wanting to leave this neighborhood," said Marcelle
Stay.

Crowds flocked to the area, thousands finding a place to park on
the street.

Neighbors say they came early and filled what are typically
empty lots, to the brim. They say it was similar to what it's
like when there's a football game at Autzen Stadium.

"It worked out pretty much like it used to, just a lot more foot
traffic and then louder in that respect," said Justin Demeter.

For some, the more the better, especially if they're trying to
turn a profit for themselves by charging $10 to park a block
away.

"We didn't move our cars out of the driveway, so we only had one
spot to fill and it filled right away and so we're thinking next
game if we move all of our cars out of the parking lot, they'll all
go right away," said Spencer Kelly.

Now that they're gone, car tracks are all that's left of the
busy evening. They're also a reminder about the congestion
the area's newest neighbor will bring.

"People are use to it being quiet over here, but it is what it
is," said Stay. "It's what we grow to expect here in the
University District," said Demeter.

Some options for future games are to buy an advanced parking
pass to park on the street for men's basketball games in advance,
pay $10 to park in a number of university lots 90 minutes before
the game, or take the shuttles for a smaller fee. View Video
News Story

The controversial installment of parking meters downtown
could get a boost from a national animal rights group that hopes to
advertise on the meters -- with scantily clad women selling an
animal-free diet.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, commonly called
PETA, sent a letter to Mayor Kelly Kirschner Thursday expressing
interest in advertising on the coming high tech parking kiosks.

The proposed image features a woman dressed as a police officer,
wearing a belly shirt, leather gloves and handcuffs. "Going vegan
is your ticket to good health," the ad reads over a half-peeled
banana.

In its letter, PETA says the ads will help make residents here
slimmer while fattening city coffers.

"We're sure that many of your residents dread the new
revenue-raising parking meters that will soon line downtown
Sarasota's curbs, but our idea will give drivers something to smile
about," PETA officials wrote in the letter. "We would like to pay
the city to place ads on the new meters, featuring a sexy traffic
cop."

The message, PETA officials hope, will inspire Sarasotans to
consider eating less meat as they park downtown.

"We are really hoping that Sarasotans will see our ad and that
it will inspire them to get healthy and go vegan," said Alicia
Woempner, PETA's special projects manager. "We hope this ad will
get some attention and get people's hearts racing."

The Virginia-based group says they have not yet heard a response
from Kirschner.

The mayor was among the commissioners that pushed for the meters
amid outcry from local business owners who fear the meters will
scare away business.

And as some claim the meters are nothing more than a money grab
for the cash-strapped city, the advertising revenue could ease the
pain for drivers -- at least financially.

Earlier this month the City Commission agreed to pay $510,000 to
bring in parking meters for more than 600 curb-side spots downtown
before summer.

PETA, Woempner said, was watching and saw the opportunity to
advertise here, where "62 percent of Floridians are overweight or
obese."

"This really seemed like a perfect opportunity for this ad,"
Woempner said. "Going vegan is the best way to get healthy."

A day after the commissioners in Darby Township voted to
increase fines for those who try to reserve street parking, many
residents still hauled plastic chairs and trash cans to the road to
block off a snow-free spot.

But in 28 days, police will begin enforcing a state law to
prevent highway obstruction. That means anyone caught trying to
save a space can be fined $300 to $1,000.

Commissioners in this Delaware County community voted
unanimously Wednesday night to increase the fines, which used to
range from $25 to $300.

In a township where clustered rowhouses make street parking
competitive under the best circumstances, residents interviewed
Thursday say they're angry about the measure.

But no parking spot is worth $300.

"Our block gets nasty this time of year," said Charles Jackson,
18, a senior at Academy Park High School who lives on Pine Road.
"People put in the work and dig out the car - nobody wants to come
back to a spot that's taken."

Still, Jackson says he won't risk a fine that steep. "We'll have
to think of something," he said.

Darby Township is taking a more aggressive approach than
Philadelphia. So far this year, Philadelphia has issued no
citations.

"If the cops do come, if there is an issue that can't be
resolved among the neighbors, then we take everything off the block
and discard it," Lt. Ray Evers, a Philadelphia police spokesman,
said about the chairs and trash cans and chairs. "But we try not to
get involved. We have a lot of other things to do in the city than
get involved in parking disputes."

Squat rowhouses line Pine Road in the Lincoln Park neighborhood
of the township, and there's only about enough space for one car
per house. But some households use more than one car, and when snow
piles wipe out some spots altogether, fighting for parking
sometimes comes to blows, said Siearra Anderson, 17, a senior at
Academy Park High School.

People start "yelling at each other and fist-fighting over it,"
said Anderson, who grew up on the block.

Even signs for disabled-only parking don't deter people from
taking spots on the block.

"These people do it in the summertime," said Francis Grobes, 62,
who said he has back problems. "I have to put out a trash can if I
go up to the Acme."

Police Chief Robert Thompson said the parking problems blossomed
during the heavy snowstorms last winter. In some neighborhoods,
including Lincoln Park, nearly every spot was barricaded with
chairs or trash cans, he said. The practice continued into the
warmer months.

"At some point, a guy needs a place to park," Thompson said.

Last winter, police did not issue a single citation, but when
they were called to break up parking-related disputes, they would
clear the street of trash cans and other space-savers, Thompson
said.

This year, Thompson said, the police will "reeducate" people to
"get everybody's attention." That's enough to make many change
their space-saving ways. "I'm not getting a $300 fine,"
Jackson said.

But Grobes is less concerned. "There's going to be no way to
enforce it," he said. "You can't put a ticket on a trash can. How
are they going to prove who put it there?"

State grant money may help fund a new parking garage on South
New Street in Bethlehem, but the money will first have to get the
approval of incoming Gov. Tom Corbett.

Outgoing Gov. Ed Rendell's administration on Thursday released a
list of redevelopment capital assistance program grants, including
$2.75 million for the garage and $2 million for the redevelopment
of the Simon Silk Mill in Easton.

Also on the list is $500,000 for a new interchange linking Main
Street in Palmer Township, near Tatamy, and Route 33.

The projects have received commitment letters for funding from
the state, but Rendell spokesman Gary Tuma cautioned that the
change in administration -- Rendell's last day in office is Tuesday
-- creates some uncertainty as to whether the commitments will be
met.

Corbett spokesman Kevin Harley said any promise of funding made
by Rendell that is not sealed by a completed and signed contract
will be reviewed by Corbett when he takes office.

If a contract is completed and signed, the new administration
will have no choice but to honor it, Tuma said. "That's a legal
contract and the commonwealth has to execute it," he said.

There are several RACP grants targeted for projects in the
Lehigh Valley that have reached contracts with the state. Those
include $1.25 million for the new St. Luke's Hospital Riverside
campus in Bethlehem Township and $300,000 for the Pomeroy's
building in Easton.

But most others such as the proposed parking garage in
Bethlehem, the interchange in Palmer Township and the silk mill in
Easton are only in the commitment letter stage, according to the
list from Rendell's office.

Still, some local officials are optimistic the state will come
through with the money, noting that their projects are rapidly
advancing.

Panto confident Easton will get its share of funds

In Easton, the $2 million for the Simon Silk Mill redevelopment
off North 13th Street will fund infrastructure work on the roughly
14-acre property.

The city and its redevelopment authority have been piecing
together funding to complete environmental cleanup and
infrastructure work to make the sprawling and challenging project
more attractive to private developers.

Also tapped for $2 million is the intermodal facility proposed
for South Third Street in Easton, according to the list.

Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said city officials have been meeting
with state officials about extending the deadlines to spend money
for the facility, which will include a parking deck and bus depot.
The state has agreed to extend the deadlines until April 2012, he
said.

Panto said he's confident the city's funding is not in jeopardy
as contracts are either signed or in process of being signed and
progress is being made on projects.

"These (projects) are not only under way, but we have $3 million
in property acquisition signed for the intermodal," he said.

The city will officially purchase the former Marquis Theater on
Monday and neighboring Perkins property on Feb. 1 to make way for
the facility.

More than $23 million in Bethlehem projects listed

In all, Bethlehem would stand to receive $23.55 million from the
grants, including $7.5 million for Majestic Realty's redevelopment
of 441 acres of former Bethlehem Steel Corp. land and $6.25 million
for the redevelopment of Martin Tower.

Previously unannounced, Bethlehem's new parking garage would be
built atop a surface lot between Third and Fourth streets and be an
asset to the South Side's central business district, Bethlehem
Mayor John Callahan said.

"More parking would strengthen our existing businesses and help
build our retail business in the area," he said.

The city's parking master plan completed two years ago
identified the South Side central business district as not having
enough parking, Callahan said. City officials would like to build a
garage with space for stores to front South New Street with parking
above and behind, Callahan said.

City officials have yet to estimate a size, cost or timeline for
the garage, Callahan said. The state money requires matching funds,
but Callahan couldn't say whether the garage could be built for
$5.5 million.

As for the Route 33 interchange in Palmer Township, the
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation last year approved a
point-of-access study for the proposal.

Proponents of the interchange say it will attract millions of
dollars in development west and south of Tatamy. Construction costs
were initially projected at $25 million.

The Los Angeles City Council decided today to lease
several parking garages for a quick and massive infusion of cash
into the city's depleted coffers, but granted concessions to
business and community groups that have been seeking continued
discounts on parking fees.

Details of the concessions were not disclosed to reporters
because the discussion was held in closed session.

All City Council President Eric Garcetti would say when asked
whether concessions would diminish the value of the properties was
"any changes could lower (their value), other ones could increase
their value."

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said the city's
proposed terms for leasing the parking garages will be presented to
potential bidders Friday.

The council listened to hours of public testimony today from
business and community groups demanding to continue paying only $2
to park at the Hollywood & Highland lot, and nothing to park at
the Broxton lot in Westwood Village.

Santana warned that imposing those restrictions on the parking
lots could turn off potential bidders, resulting in less lucrative
offers.

However, Garcetti said he could not completely ignore the
concerns of business owners in Hollywood, which is part of his
district.

"As someone who has seen parking help revitalize Hollywood and
in turn provide taxes for the entire city, I listened carefully to
what the Hollywood community was talking about," Garcetti said.

"I can't and won't ultimately support something that doesn't
satisfy the shared concerns I have with the Hollywood community to
keep momentum going. Parking is a critical piece of that."

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the City Council "faced a tough
choice" and "did the right thing" in agreeing to lease the parking
garages.

"This decision keeps the city on a path charted last May when we
unanimously chose to include this proposal in the adopted city
budget," Villaraigosa said.

"Moving forward with a proposal which maximizes the value of the
city parking garages is a critical part of our plan to restore Los
Angeles to financial health."

Santana said the city needs to make $200 million to $300 million
from leasing nine of its parking garages to private operators for
50 years.

Of that amount, $53.2 million is to be used to eliminate most of
the city's budget deficit in the current fiscal year.

Meanwhile, the council postponed until Friday a decision on
whether to authorize another round of drastic budget cuts.

Villaraigosa said fact that the city has not yet generated any
revenue from the parking garages and is $26 million short on tax
revenues made the budget cuts necessary -- unless labor unions
agree to significant concessions.

"I made it clear: I'm going to have to move ahead with more
layoffs," he said today.

"I do so not because I relish it -- nobody wakes up in the
morning and says, `I want to cut services, I want to cut jobs' --
but unless we get the kinds of concessions that we need from our
partners in labor, we're going to have to move ahead because we
will balance this budget," he added.

Santana had recommended an additional 10 furlough days for
employees who are already required to take either 16 or 26 days off
without pay.

The additional furloughs could shut down entire departments
every Friday or every other Friday from Jan. 30 through June
30.

Other recommendations included further slashing the budget of
the fire department, which is already idling 22 fire engines and
nine ambulances to save money; furloughing the Department of
General Services police officers who provide security to city
buildings; and cutting the graffiti removal budget in half, among
other cuts.

Santana said the budget cuts may prompt the general managers of
various departments to lay off personnel. He noted they have the
authority to hand out pink slips.

If the plan to lease parking garages falls through or fails to
meet revenue expectations, Santana said the police department
should also suspend hiring.

Without revenue from the parking garage lease, the city would be
$62.7 million in the red in the current fiscal year. Another $350
million deficit looms in the next fiscal year, which begins July
1.

Changes Made in Tampa's New
Downtown Parking SystemKeith Morelli / The Tampa Tribune
January 13, 2011

The neon orange envelope stuck under the windshield wiper of a
car parked on a downtown street contained a ticket that said,
"Welcome to Tampa. This is only a warning."

About 1,000 parking meters downtown have been yanked out over
the past few months, replaced with posts that have a parking space
number at the top. Somewhere along the block is a parking kiosk
where parkers must visit before they head out to conduct their
business, have their lunch or hit the courthouse or city hall.

As long as they can remember their parking space numbers,
parkers can pay for their space at any pay station, not just the
one closest to the spot.

City parking officials know the new system is confusing some
people and have instructed parking enforcement officers and
downtown guides to help perplexed parkers and hand out
pamphlets.

Tampa's parking division manager Jim Corbett said not much
feedback has come into the office.

"A lot of folks need assistance," he said, "but with downtown
guides and officers we are able to catch a lot of people on the
street using machines for the first time. It's moving along pretty
well. Once folks understand new rules and guidelines, they seem to
comply with them."

All the pay stations have been installed, but there still is
some tweaking going on, particularly on Twiggs Street near the
county courthouse, he said.

"All that should be done by this time next week," he said.
"We're probably 97 percent operational at this time."

Parking enforcement officers are giving breaks to first-time
offenders, he said. They are issuing warnings without a fine if
they come across a vehicle that has not paid for a spot. When a
warning is issued, a "how-to guide" is inserted in the warning
jacket. Should the same vehicle fail to pay for a space on a second
occasion, he said, an expired meter citation will be issued with a
fee of $25.

He said the times of day when parking enforcement takes place
doesn't change from the old system, but parkers will need to walk
to the parking pay station to find out.

"All parking patrons should go to the nearest pay station after
they park and enter their space number," he said. "The pay station
will tell the parker if fees are being collected."

If parking fees are not in effect, a red screen will pop up
stating "no charge" and then display the hours of operation for
that particular spot, he said.

The only information on the individual post is the space number,
he said.

"Our goal was to not confuse the patrons by cluttering up the
posts with excessive information," he said.

The pay station generally won't accept payment if the metered
space is not in operation. But to accommodate patrons who park
before 8 a.m., the pay stations have been programmed to allow them
to pay for their time then, so they won't have to return to the pay
station at 8 a.m.

Parkers can now begin paying for those spots as early as 6 a.m.,
Corbett said.

Depending on the location, hours of enforcement vary, he
said.

Meters around the Channelside district and the St. Pete Times
Forum north to Whiting Street are enforced from 8 a.m. until
midnight, Monday through Saturday.

Between Whiting Street and Kennedy Boulevard, meters are
enforced from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday and 1-8
p.m. on Sunday.

Meters in Ybor City's historic district are enforced from 8 a.m.
until 3 a.m. the following day, Monday through Saturday.

Meters in all other areas are enforced from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Monday through Friday.

The pay stations have replaced about 1,000 of the city's
existing 1,425 single-space street meters, primarily in the central
business district bounded by Tyler Street on the north, Selmon
Crosstown Expressway on the south, Nebraska Avenue on the east, and
Ashley Drive on the west.

On-street parking tickets carry fines ranging from $25 for an
expired meter to $251 for parking in designated disabled space.

The city paid $2.1 million for the new system, prompted
partially by complaints about archaic meters that accepted only
coins, and in some cases, just quarters.

He said the 146 pay stations are enough to handle payment for
about 1,000 street parking spaces.

"It is important to remember that a patron may use any one of
the 146 pay stations in downtown Tampa," he said, "regardless of
the block where they have parked."

In most cases, during the week day, parkers can only buy up to
two hours of time before having to come back and buy more. The
exceptions are the spaces around the county courthouse where the
time limit is four hours.

"After 5 p.m.," Corbett said, "regardless of the space location,
a parker may purchase unlimited amounts of time until the metered
space is no longer in operation for the day."

He said maintaining the new system is cheaper than trying to
care for all those meters.

"We spent a fair amount on labor and cobbled spare parts to put
the meters back in operation each day," he said.

Disabled parkers can still park at any of the designated
disabled spaces throughout downtown without having to pay a parking
fee and they can stay there as long as they need, Corbett said.
Parkers are required to display their disabled hang tags or
disabled license plates when parking in designated disabled
space.

If disabled motorists park at a regular metered space, they will
have to go to the pay station and enter their metered space
numbers. They will be given the option of selecting the disabled
parking rate, which allows them to park for free for the first four
hours. After that, they must move their vehicle or pay the regular
rate for additional time.

The old meters are being stacked up in storage areas, Corbett
said.

"Our goal is to inventory and sort out the better conditioned
operating meters," he said. "We still need to replace the remaining
old mechanical, single-space meters with the better conditioned
electronic single-space meters.

"We plan to use the city's online auction system to sell the
remaining meters to the public," he said, "or most likely another
municipal agency."

An increase in the parking tax in Findlay -- the first in 15
years -- means airport parking operators will have to absorb the
cost or pass it on to customers.

Starting Feb. 1, the combined Findlay and West Allegheny School
District taxes on parking transactions are expected to increase
from 9 to 11.5 percent.

The school board will vote Wednesday on raising its tax to 2.5
percent from 2 percent. The Findlay tax rate will increase to 9
percent from 7 percent.

The tax applies to every parking transaction in lots and garages
at Pittsburgh International Airport and in privately owned
pay-to-park facilities in Findlay.

The tax has been the same since it went into effect in 1995 at
the airport and 25 years ago for private operators such as Charlie
Brown's Airport Parking on Flaugherty Run Road.

"[The parking tax increase] is something that we are vehemently
opposed to," Charlie Brown's operations manager Craig Brown said
last week. "It's either going to affect our bottom line, which
might lead us to decrease our workforce, or we're going to have to
pass it onto our customers. We haven't come to that decision
yet."

Charlie Brown charges customers the parking tax in addition to
the regular rate. A 2.5 percent increase would cause the tax on a
$50 weekly rate to rise from $4.50 to $5.75.

At the airport, parking rates include the tax and will not
increase immediately, said Dave Paga, manager of Grant Oliver
Corp., which operates the short-term, long-term and extended
parking facilities under a lease agreement with the Allegheny
County Airport Authority.

"Right now, we have no plans to increase rates," Mr. Paga said
last week. "We are going to look at what the tax increase is going
to do to the revenue stream before we make any adjustments."

He expected to review revenues after the first quarter of the
year.

Mr. Brown said his parking and shuttle business -- owned for the
past 29 years by his father, Charlie Brown -- faces competition
from the airport and other parking operators, including ones in
Moon and North Fayette, Mr. Brown said.

North Fayette levies a 5 percent parking tax. Moon does not
charge a parking tax.

"There's another competitive disadvantage that we have to take
into consideration," Mr. Brown said.

Other parking operators subject to the tax include Air Marino
Airport Parking and The Parking Spot, both on Flaugherty Run Road,
and Pittsburgh Airport Parking Valet Service at the airport.

Findlay hotels, such as the Four Points by Sheraton and the
Comfort Suites, must pay the tax when charging patrons specifically
for parking services, township manager Gary Klingman said.

Township supervisors voted in December to approve a parking tax
increase from 7 to 9 percent, a measure expected to produce
$700,000 this year, Mr. Klingman said.

West Allegheny school board members are expected to vote
Wednesday on the other half-percent to generate an estimated
$173,000 for the school district, interim business manager Glenn
Mamula said.

The district covers Findlay, North Fayette and Oakdale.

Mr. Klingman said the township negotiated the increase with the
airport authority, then applied it uniformly across the
township.

Parking operators collect the tax and redistribute it to the
township and school district, township attorney Alan Shuckrow
said.

Mr. Klingman said Findlay needed more revenue to balance the
2011 budget and had to decide whether to raise taxes on parking
patrons or township property owners.

"We've got people who are losing their jobs, fighting to keep
their houses," Mr. Klingman said. "And with the economy the way it
is, to lay a [higher] property tax on them when you have another
choice was not the most prudent thing to do."

According to a five-year agreement approved by the authority,
the township and the school district, the new parking tax rate must
remain the same through Dec. 31, 2015.

In the agreement, Findlay and West Allegheny agree to continue
assisting the airport authority with development projects and
supporting tax incentive programs.

Findlay supervisors' chairman Tom Gallant, who works as a flight
attendant for US Airways, said the airport is important to the
township not only because it produces parking tax revenue, but also
because it attracts commercial development to the area.

"The airport is invaluable as an economic generator for the
township," Mr. Gallant said.

San Francisco officials may use street-sweeping trucks to catch
vehicles parked illegally, as the city looks to increase parking
ticket revenue.

The proposal was part of a plan to issue more tickets that was
unveiled by the Municipal Transportation Agency on Tuesday. The San
Francisco Chronicle reports that the cameras would be attached to
the front of the trucks and photograph the license plates of
vehicles parked illegally in street-sweeping areas.

Other proposals call for increased enforcement of fines for
blocking intersections and reducing the amount of time people can
park for free at broken meters.

The agency is about $7 million short of the $99 million it has
projected in parking ticket revenue for the current fiscal
year.

You'll soon have plenty more places to fuel up in Minnesota, but
not at a gas station.

The city of Rochester is the first to have a public charging
station for electric cars. More will show up in the Twin Cities
this year.

Rochester Public Utilities unveiled its first charging station
for electric vehicles this week in the First Street Parking Ramp.
It cost about $8,000 to install.

Two vehicles can hook up to it at a time. Drivers pay $1.50/hour
to charge their cars.

RPU says it will likely install more charging stations in the
coming months.

There is one other charging station in Minnesota, located in the
First National Bank building in St. Paul. It is a privately owned
and operated station. Minneapolis and St. Paul plan to install
public charging stations starting this year. View Video News Story

Westminster, Maryland Parking
Garage May Switch to MetersPeter Panepinto, Carroll County Times
January 12, 2011

In the past, control gates at the Longwell Garage in Westminster
have malfunctioned and angry drivers trapped inside have broken the
gates to escape.

"The damage costs more than what they owed for parking," said
Public Works Director Jeff Glass. "It doesn't always occur when
drivers are stuck; sometimes people are just walking by and snap
them off."

Within the past few years, the gates have been damaged about
five or six times, costing the city $200 each time to repair.

Such incidents may be prevented if the Westminster Common
Council approves a proposal to replace the current parking system
with parking meters, Glass said. Permit parking would still be
available. The proposal was introduced at Monday night's council
meeting in city hall.

Currently the parking garage is operated by CTR Systems' credit
card-based payment system, which requires a software upgrade to
meet financial industry standards that would cost $21,400, he said.
It needs an upgrade because the means of transmitting information
from credit cards isn't as secure as it should be, he said.

CTR Systems, based in Warrendale, Pa., is a single source
provider of payroll, time and attendance, parking revenue control
and access control services and solutions, according to www.ctrsystems.com. A
standard monthly parking permit at the garage costs $30 per month
and the hourly rate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. costs 50 cents.

It would cost the city $17,495 to add 100 parking meters,
installed by the city's street department employees, Glass said. A
meter monitor would have to frequent the area more often, but it
would still cost much less in comparison to upgrades and continued
maintenance of the current system, Glass said.

"In the long run, that's probably going to be the most
economical road to take," Glass said.

Westminster resident Monte Leister uses the garage four days
each week for a total of eight hours. Though the current system
sometimes doesn't print receipts or accept his credit card, he said
he would rather keep the current parking system in place.

Leister said he'd rather not have to collect quarters each day
to feed the meters.

"I'm pretty happy with how its works now," Leister said.

Mayor Kevin Utz said the possibility of adding parking meters
would be further discussed at the council's Jan. 24 meeting. Utz
said he wasn't sure if parking meters would be the best choice
because many people wouldn't want to add change to the meter every
30 minutes.

To avoid checking the meters constantly, the city could program
the meters to accept enough change for up to eight hours, Glass
said. Installing change machines could make it easier for people,
he said. Councilman Tony Chiavacci said he likes the idea and
recommended looking into change machines that accept $5, $10 and
$20 bills so people can have more options to obtain change for the
meters. Glass said it would take about four to six weeks for
delivery of the meters and a few more weeks for installation.

Councilwoman Suzanne Albert said the meters sound like a good
idea, but she hopes most people who use the garage feel the same.
Meters would be more economical in the long run, she said, because
the current system might need another upgrade in the future. Albert
said the current system does make parking easy, but if people have
change for the meters ahead of time, meters could be just as
easy.

"Looking at the feasibility and the acceptance, and the fact it
would be cost effective, it sounds like that's the way we should
go," Albert said.

Tammy Black, of Manchester, parks her vehicle in the garage five
days per week and buys parking passes for her volunteers at Access
Carroll, a nonprofit that provides medical services to low-income
people. Black, executive director of Access Carroll, said she is in
favor of parking meters because it would be much easier and save
money.

She said the current parking structure has been problematic for
some of the volunteers at Access Carroll.

"Three of the doctors have had their credit cards eaten by the
machines," Black said.

The MBTA said yesterday that it plans to offer new,
easier ways for commuters to pay at parking lots across the state,
such as setting up a website that offers monthly passes.

The program will begin in February and will be based at the
MBTA's website, www.mbta.com. The
passes are $70 and can be bought with a credit card.

Before the announcement yesterday, the Globe reported that MBTA
officials have started to more aggressively enforce the collection
of fees at T parking lots and will track down scofflaws who
repeatedly cheat the system.

Approximately 66 of the T's 100-plus lots - with 24,546 spaces -
have a self-pay honor system that hundreds of people have taken
advantage of without paying, officials said. The T has lost about
$1 million revenue as a result, at a time when it is facing a $100
million budget deficit for the next fiscal year, the agency
said.

"It's our obligation at the MBTA to recover every dollar we
can,'' MBTA General Manager Rich Davey said yesterday during a news
conference at South Sta tion. "One million is a lot of money given
the budget deficit we have, and this is a way to capture
revenue.''

Under the honor system, commuters must stuff dollar bills into a
marked space on a payment board. The marked spaces on the board
correspond with the numbered parking spaces.

Davey said yesterday that the payment method is outdated and
that the website will allow commuters to buy a monthly pass. They
can then place the pass on their dashboard.

The MBTA also runs a pay-by-phone system that is used by about
30 percent of the customers who park at the lots, Davey said.

"The bottom line is the current system we have is old and
antiquated,'' Davey said, adding in a statement: "This new customer
service makes it easer than ever to pay for parking.''

The MBTA has collected more than $22,000 in overdue parking fees
since it started to track down scofflaws and send them warning
letters. Typically, scofflaws are sent a note telling them the fee
has been unpaid, and they are fined an additional $1, though many
still do not pay. The new letters warn that a scofflaw's car can be
towed if the fees and fines continue to go unpaid.

Davey said his agency is targeting the people who repeatedly
cheated the system. For instance, one scofflaw refused to pay more
than 200 times, he said. "Frankly, some are just avoiding their
obligation to pay,'' Davey said.

Also, the MBTA is considering increasing the fines for
scofflaws, possibly up to $15, to resemble more costly municipal
parking violations. It was not known yesterday whether the agency
needs legislative approval to do that. MBTA lawyers are reviewing
what is allowed under law.

Davey said his agency will continue to use the authority it does
have by enforcing existing rates and, if necessary, towing.

A private developer is proposing to build a parking garage,
retail and office project in downtown Newark. The project would
include city-owned Parking Lot 1 off Delaware Avenue and near the
Galleria on Main Street.

The proposal from Community Development Capital Partners would
give the group three years to assemble land and secure financing
for the project. Community is based in Rockland, Delaware. Also
partnering in a limited liability company that would develop the
project is Tevebaugh Associates, a Wilmington Architectural firm
and Wohlsen Construction, a regional commercial builder.

The project would not involve the direct use of city funds. The
city operate the parking garage on a leaseback basis with the
developer operating mixed use space that could include office and
retail.

An outline of the project will be presented to the Newark City
Council at its meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday night.

In a letter to the council, City Planning Director Roy Lopata
said the proposal offers an opportunity to deal with long-term
parking needs for downtown Newark at no direct cost to the
city.

Community Development Capital Partners is asking the city to
sign a memorandum of understanding that would allow the project to
go forward. The agreement would give the city the option of using
eminent domain to assemble needed land. However, the city also has
the option of not using the practice, which could be controversial,
due to the fact that a portion of the project would house private
businesses.

Under the memorandum of understanding, the city would get cash
payments from the developer in the second and third years of the
period where land and financing would be assembled.

City of Newark officials have been discussing the proposal with
Community Development since last fall, according to materials
released by the city outlining the project.

The city has long wanted to build a parking structure, but has
held off any projects, due to a reluctance to take on additional
debt.

In New Haven, This Garage
Could Be YoursPaul Bass / The New Haven Independent
January 10, 2011

As New Haven tackles a budget crisis, it's considering selling
off garages and parking lots across town.

The DeStefano administration is reviewing the city's portfolio
of six garages and 22 surface lots to see which, if any, to unload.
The city is scrambling to close $8 million projected budget deficit
for the current year-and a projected $57 million gap for the
upcoming one. It is putting up for sale whatever property it feels
it doesn't need (such as this old school).

"Everything's on the table right now," Mayor John DeStefano said
in an interview. No decisions have been made yet about what if any
facilities to sell, he said.

While budget woes have pressed the issue to the forefront,
DeStefano said the portfolio review stems largely from policy
concerns. The city's budget crisis has presented an opportunity to
rethink ways government has operated for decades-such as whether it
belongs in the parking business.

"The only reason we have these garages is a public policy of the
'50s and '60s," he said. "They're a legacy that doesn't make
sense."

The city decided to build garages to support private development
back then. It might make more sense now for private owners to pay
for their parking, DeStefano argued. Also, the city has vowed to
promote alternatives to car travel.

As an example, DeStefano cited the Air Rights Garage (pictured).
It basically serves Yale-New Haven Hospital. Why shouldn't the
hospital own it and run it?

(Asked about the idea, hospital spokesman Vin Petrini responded,
"We're not aware of the city's interest in selling off the garage,
so we haven't given it any consideration." The city doesn't
actually own most of the Air Rights Garage; it has an ownership
interest in conjunction with the hospital.)

In recent years the DeStefano administration's development
plans-such as for "Lot E," a spin-off set of apartments, offices
and stores near the new cancer hospital-have included private
construction and management of parking.

The city's mayorally-appointed parking authority still oversees
8,413 spaces at the 28 lots and garages, according to Executive
Director William Kilpatrick. He said the authority doesn't maintain
a record of the estimated appraised value of the land and
structures. He declined comment on the question of whether it makes
sense to sell them.

The garages don't lose money year to year, the mayor said. But
that accounting doesn't include liability and upkeep, he said. Some
of the facilities-such as the Crown Street Garage-have years worth
of deferred maintenance, requiring millions of dollars of needed
repairs.

DeStefano also argued that private operators "who specialize in
parking are able to maximize revenues" better than government can,
not just through rate setting, but by managing better. That's in
part because some of the operators have broader experience,
managing parking facilities nationwide.

The policy question-whether or not to keep owning garages and
lots-matters because merely selling off city property to plug a
budget hole is generally considered short-sighted. Bond rating
agencies frown on the practice, for instance. It's considered a way
to fix a problem in the short term while eliminating the ability to
make money or strengthen a community in the long term.

"One-time revenues are never great ways to balance the budget.
But if this is part of a long-term agenda where we move away from
controlling these types of services, I think that's fine," State
Rep. Roland Lemar said of the idea of unloading the parking
facilities. "I don't see the need for municipalities to own parking
garages. We should be encouraging folks to get on trains, get on
buses, walk and bike." In some cases, such as a train station
garage, it may make sense to maintain public control in order to
serve a public purpose like keeping rates low enough to encourage
rail commuting, he argued.

Selling the surface lots especially makes sense, Lemar said. He
said he'd like to see private builders put tax-generating,
neighborhood-knitting homes or stores or businesses there
instead.

He mentioned the Pulaski lot across from Goodfellas restaurant
on State Street as an example.

"That's an incredible development opportunity to really knit
together State Street from downtown through to the CT Transit bus"
building, Lemar said. "It serves as parking lot for some
businesses. Its best use is as a mixed-use residential-commercial
site, continuing foot traffic up and down the street and active bus
runs."

DeStefano said the city has previously looked into selling that
lot. "It's very narrow," he said. The city couldn't find a
buyer.

Matthew Nemerson, who chairs the parking authority board,
disagreed with the idea that the question is whether public or
private management works better at parking facilities. It has more
to do with how high to set rates and the nitty-gritty of whether
sales make long-term financial sense on balance, he argued. Can the
city make more money taking cash from a sale and reinvesting it,
for instance, than it could holding onto the facilities and
continuing to take in parking fees?

"If you look around the country, you'll see that parking
authorities are looking at which garages to hold onto and how to
develop the best revenue streams. So it's totally logical to look
at that," Nemerson said.

"It is not a public-private issue. Our investigation around the
country is that that's simply not the issue at all. The real issue
is parking rates and who should be setting them. In a town where
you have public control of rates, where it has to go through the
city council, rates tend to be lower. The real issue ultimately is
rates." Private operators set rates at the highest amounts they can
receive in a specific spot. Cities like New Haven sometimes set
standard rates for the whole system, whether or not certain
facilities can command higher fees than others. Or they choose to
keep rates lower than the market maximum for other reasons-like
inducing people to come shop downtown.

Nemerson said the authority is about to begin $8 million in
repairs at the Crown Street Garage.

"The conventional thinking is that the public sector doesn't
have to make a profit [so it would] put more of its money" into
structural repairs, he said. "These are concrete boxes which have
cars in them which leak oil and salt and are part of the New
England weather cycle. They look strong. But as we know, they're
very fragile. As we saw with the Coliseum garage, maintenance and
design are hugely important."

Fairfax County residents will have a harder time finding a free
parking space in some neighborhoods if transportation planners get
their way.

Working to ease traffic jams in the steadily urbanizing suburb,
the county's Transportation Department is drafting proposed rules
that would limit parking in new developments near Metro lines. Such
parking limits have already been adopted by the Board of
Supervisors as part of the plan governing Tysons Corner's
transformation into an urban hub.

But imposing maximums in other parts of Fairfax where
transit-oriented development exists would represent a significant
departure in a suburb where generations of planners drew up plans
around the automobile.

"This is a major shift. Other than Tysons, you could say this
will be a first," said Dan Rathbone, chief of the transportation
planning division in Fairfax.

Similar measures have been adopted in Montgomery County and
other jurisdictions where population growth and new settlement
patterns have transformed areas from suburbs into cities. Fairfax
planners have paid particularly close attention to the
transformation of neighboring Arlington County from a backwater of
parking lots into a high-rise Metro corridor. Ballston's towers
grew out of Parkington Shopping Center, whose name reflected one of
its favorable attributes when it opened in 1951. Yet the number of
jurisdictions in the United States that impose parking maximums on
developers is still perhaps fewer than 50, Rathbone said.

"We often like to say that too much parking can be a traffic
magnet," said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition
for Smarter Growth. "If we're going to address traffic and make a
walkable community in Fairfax, it's important to get the parking
right."

Still, some builders and county officials are wary. In a county
that covers about 400 square miles, they wonder whether people
would buy homes without having a place to park.

"I think everybody recognizes there's a need for new parking
ratios and parking limits, but the challenge is to figure out what
are the right numbers," said Jon Lindgren, director of operations
for the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association. "It's
mostly just making sure that builders have the flexibility to
develop and build the kind of units that people want."

Flexibility concerns

Supervisor John C. Cook (R-Braddock) said he endorses the
general concept of encouraging people who reside near Metro to use
mass transit more and their cars less, but he also expressed unease
about the measure's potential intrusiveness and lack of
flexibility.

"You're really talking about not allowing developers to build
parking spaces? How can you limit the number of cars somebody
owns?" Cook said.

He and other skeptics wonder what would happen to people who
purchased a townhouse with limited parking but then switched jobs
or encountered some other circumstance affecting their ability to
commute to work by Metro.

"They can't take the Metro if it goes the wrong way," Cook
said.

Studies have shown that something as banal as a parking space
has profound effects on whether a community is livable, affordable,
navigable and environmentally sound. A study by the Transportation
and Land Use Coalition of Silicon Valley housing patterns found
that a single parking space could cost as much as $25,000 and
represent as much as 20 percent of the total cost of building an
apartment building. In effect, the study found, parking spaces
drove out people, particularly the elderly, renters and low-income
residents and others without vehicles.

Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at the University of
California at Los Angeles who grew up in Alexandria, said free
parking is anything but free. Shoup, who wrote the book "The High
Cost of Free Parking," said the true costs of free parking are
rolled into the cost of a house or office building. If anything,
Shoup said, Fairfax has promoted cars for too long.

"If you look at it from the air, it looks like a parking lot,"
Shoup said.

Walkable communities

Schwartz said surveys also suggest that limiting parking and
increasing mass transit play an important role in attracting
younger people, who are less likely to define success as the
single-family suburban home with a two-car garage. An analysis by
real estate consulting firm Robert Charles Lesser & Co. found
that, compared with the rest of the Washington metropolitan area,
Fairfax attracted a smaller percentage of the fastest-growing
segment of householders - those with one or two people per dwelling
- in the past decade. Many of them prefer walkable communities,
Schwartz said.

"The millennials, in particular, are sort of the Zipcar
generation," Schwartz said.

Kathy Ichter, director of Fairfax's Transportation Department,
unveiled the draft proposal at a transportation committee meeting
late last year.

Under current ordinances, new townhouses must have at least 2.75
parking spaces per dwelling. Under the draft recommendations,
parking would be limited to 1.75 spaces per dwelling in a townhouse
development less than a quarter-mile from a Metro station or 2.5
spaces per dwelling if the townhouse were located one-fourth of a
mile to a half-mile from the station. Parking at commercial
developments would be reduced from 2.6 parking spaces per 125,000
square feet of space to 2.1 if less than a quarter-mile from the
Metro and to two spaces less than a half-mile away.

The Board of Supervisors would be required to adopt the
guidelines as an ordinance for them to take effect. The county's
Transportation Advisory Commission has endorsed the proposal, but
only near the Metro lines.

Jeffrey Parnes, former president of the Fairfax County
Federation of Citizens Associations, said the proposed policy is
trying to catch up to the market, as many people who buy near Metro
hubs chose those homes because they wanted to use mass transit.
Parnes, who heads the advisory commission, said the proposed change
is a modest first step, because cars will still be an important
part of Fairfax's livability for many years.

"There's no doubt about it: You will need a car," Parnes said.
"You won't need three cars."

Burlington firefighters extinguished an intentionally set blaze
early Friday morning in a city parking garage, and police have
arrested a suspect, according to a statement from the Fire
Marshal's Office.

The fire was reported at 3:07 a.m. at the Marketplace Parking
Garage in downtown, where a storage area for archived garage
receipts was found to be ablaze. Firefighters extinguished the
blaze and cleared the scene in less than an hour, officials
said.

Later Friday, police apprehended Alden Finnie, 44, of Burlington
and cited him on suspicion of second-degree arson, police Sgt.
Bruce Bovat said. Finnie previously worked as a ticket booth
attendant in a city garage, Bovat said. The sergeant said
authorities are continuing to investigate what might have prompted
the fire.

Finnie is due to appear Tuesday in Vermont Superior Court in
Burlington, Bovat said.

Sound Transit plans to beef up parking enforcement soon at train
stations and commuter lots, including the Issaquah Transit
Center.

The move comes after concerns from ST Express bus riders and
Sounder commuter rail commuters about overcrowded parking lots,
vehicles left overnight in lots and other infractions.

The enforcement emphasis starts Jan. 15. Sound Transit plans to
seek out vehicles parked in transit center lots for more than 24
hours, parked in handicap spaces illegally, parked in more than a
single space, and parked to block other vehicles and pedestrian
pathways.

Sound Transit provides a weeklong grace period for transit lot
users from Jan. 15 to Jan. 22. Owners will receive warning notices
for breaking the guidelines during the grace period. Vehicles found
to be in violation of the rules could be immediately towed after
Jan. 23.

Sound Transit has installed additional signage at the busiest
transit centers to advise lot users of parking regulations, and
plans to install signs at other agency-operated lots. Sound Transit
also offers a primer for riders.

The agency offers parking at 21 transit centers in King, Pierce
and Snohomish counties. From the 21 centers, six sites reached at
99 percent capacity or greater, and seven sites reached at least 90
percent of capacity.

Boston Raises Parking Meter
RatesThe Associated Press
January 8, 2011

It's about to get more expensive to park at meters in Boston.
City parking officials say starting this weekend some meters will
be adjusted so that it costs $1.25 to park for an hour, rather than
the current $1 per hour rate. That means a quarter will get you
only 12 minutes, instead of 15 minutes.

Transportation Commissioner Thomas Timlin says it will take
until the end of the month to make the change at all the city's
meters.

He says it's the first meter rate hike since the mid-1980s. More
meters will start accepting credit cards for payment, as well. The
rate hike is expected to bring in about $3 million annually for the
city.

By this time next year, Chico State officials hope to begin
construction on a new campus parking structure, but for some the
addition is unwelcome in downtown Chico.

The construction of a new parking structure has been a goal of
the university since at least 2005, when the master plan for campus
facilities was approved by the California State University board of
trustees.

Momentum for the parking structure, which will be located on
Second Street between Normal and Chestnut streets, has picked up in
the past few months.

By the end of January, the college expects to release
environmental documents related to the potential impacts of the
proposed structure.

The release of the report will likely bring the structure one
step closer to completion. Speaking to the Chico Economic Planning
Corporation Thursday morning, Lori Hoffman, Chico State vice
president of business and finance, called the parking structure the
"highest priority" project for the college this next year.

Hoffman said with plans to renovate First Street's Taylor Hall
with a new performing arts center, additional parking in downtown
Chico will be necessary.

"If we are bringing people to that side of campus, we really
need to provide more parking," Hoffman said.

She said the structure will span 3 1/2 stories and will have a
minimum of 325 parking spaces.

The structure will primarily be utilized by campus staff and
students, Hoffman said, but added that the public will be able to
purchase parking in the structure as well, just as they do in the
parking lot at Nettleton Stadium or the campus' current parking
structure at Second and Warner streets.

On the weekends and during evenings, Hoffman said parking will
be more readily available for downtown Chico visitors not
associated with the college.

Hoffman added that Chico State has the lowest number of parking
spaces per capita, compared to the other CSU campuses. But Mark
Stemen, a Chico State professor and sustainability advocate, thinks
that is a distinction that should be commended and maintained.

Stemen opposes the construction of the parking structure and has
circulated an open letter throughout the community arguing against
the construction of the structure.

In a Thursday phone interview, Stemen said the parking structure
does little to promote alternative transportation and fails to take
into consideration the larger picture of what he called a
transportation problem, rather than a parking problem. "This is a
20th century solution to a 21st century problem," Stemen said. "A
three-story rock is not a solution."

Stemen said the college should dedicate more effort to
implementing the recommendations proposed in the campus 2008
Transportation Demand Management Plan before building a parking
structure.

The 15 goals in the 2008 plan include the improvement of several
bike paths in and around the campus, increased and improved bicycle
parking and a geographical restriction on parking permits issued to
students.

Stemen said the parking structure should not come to light until
all 15 measures are implemented.

He said he is looking for a "total solution" to Chico's
transportation issues.

"We do not want to force people out of their cars. We want to
enable the people who want to get out of their cars to do so,"
Stemen said. Hoffman said the college plans to implement the demand
management plan strategies in the near future, claiming the college
has already worked to implement six of the 15 measures.

But even with all of the recommendations in place, Hoffman said
parking will still be needed in the campus area. Hoffman said there
are an estimated 18,000 students, faculty and staff associated with
the college.

Chico State currently has 1,876 parking spaces available to
accommodate those potential drivers.

Although it may not be the only solution, based on the numbers,
Hoffman said it is clear that there is a parking space deficit that
will be met in part by a parking structure.

The days of hand-written parking citations are coming to an end
in Wheeling.

Wheeling City Council on Tuesday approved a contract with Tyler
Technologies to purchase a parking court system for $46,508 from
the Finance Department budget. Finance Director Michael Klug said
the contract is in the mail and within the next week or two,
parking meter enforcement officers will have three devices to
replace their notepads.

The items designed for the two city meter readers and one fine
collector will be Motorola Symbol MC75 devices that appear much
like Blackberry cell phones. Klug said they will be connected to a
belt-clipped printer that will create a ticket similar in shape to
a grocery receipt.

At the end of each day, Klug said the officers will bring the
devices back to the City-County Building and place them on a dock.
Data will be automatically extracted and logged into the provided
software. When a ticket goes unpaid beyond its due date, the
software will notify city officials so proper action can be taken
to collect the fines.

Though Klug could not say for sure yet whether the devices will
increase city revenue significantly, he said fine management will
become less cumbersome and that officers will perform more
efficiently.

Patty Miller, meter officer, agrees with the new system's
purpose.

"It's going to be easier, quicker, more efficient, a lot more
advantages," she said, noting that in the winter months, her ink
freezes up and causes difficulty in writing tickets.

Previously, the Wheeling Police Department obtained a license
plate reader that attaches to the rear side of a cruiser. It
captures plate images and automatically runs checks on all vehicles
passing in front of the view finder. An included ability in those
checks is finding drivers with outstanding parking tickets.

Police Chief Robert Matheny said information from the parking
court system can be entered into the plate reader's database by
hand, but he did not know if the software for the two systems will
be able to interact automatically. He said he will explore the idea
to see if synchronization is possible.

Matheny said the plate reader arrived Tuesday and will become
operational in coming weeks. A Homeland Security grant for $21,375
was accepted by Wheeling City Council in November to obtain the
reader.